October 6, 2007: Cherokee, NC

Our last day on the parkway and all its overlooks. A great lunch at Mt. Pisgah Lodge overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains. Pulled into a very large RV park with lots of trailers. There were two swimming pools but very crowded.

October 7: We stay another day to get laundry done and catch up on some email and photo downloading. We ate a pancake breakfast and Jack had biscuits and gravy. I was not brave and had the pancakes. We drove a long way to a grocery store (IGA in Brison) to get supplies. It was a beautiful ride. We leave the the Cherokee KOA and the Oconalufte River Area and head for the Great Smokey Mountains. This is the end of the Blue Ridge. We found lots of tourists in the Great Smokey's and took lots of pictures from lots more overlooks. We ate a picnic lunch byt the Little Pigeon River. Very beautiful.

October 5, 2007: Asheville, NC

Lots of driving and visitor's centers so we wanted to stay close to the parkway. We pulled into an unfortunate RV park (Asheville Taps) and got out early the next morning. We moved from the first site they tried to put us in as the trailer hung out in the road! Plus the rv park was in what looked like a parking lot. I know Asheville is a beautiful place and would like to see more of it another time. This will not be the place to stay.

October 3, 2007: Raccoon Holler, NC

We measured the height of the trailer to make sure it would make it through all the tunnels along the parkway. Breakfast at Rugels Gap Cafe. We stopped at overlooks and visitor's centers like Rocky Knob Visitor Center and a Music Center where there were two musicians playing (banjo and guitar). Also a music museum. We bought the cd (bluegrass). We crossed a state line into North Carolina and pulled into a trailer park called Raccoon Holler. Yup, never thought I would stay in a holler.

October 4, 2007 (Emma's birthday) In fact we stayed two days, changed the oil on the truck again and did some laundry. Very quiet place. Parkway cafe for breakfast. A place where we were definitely strangers. But everyone was very friendly.
We found a church with frescos.
Back on the Parkway we stopped at three visitor's centers. Some beautiful rainy pictures and it has been raining off and on for a couple of days.
We ate lunch by the Lynville River

No hookups which means it was very quiet, except for the chestnuts that fell from the trees. Unfortunately we just saw the trees as a pretty canopy until we were settled in and the pounding began. Next morning we got out the ladder to check on the roof, but no damage luckily.